Last 5% UK rural broadband could be satellite

The Managing Director of UK satellite Internet Service Provider Satellite Internet is calling local councils to spend some of the latest tranche of rural broadband funding from central government on delivering satellite broadband solutions to reach the final five per cent.

It was announced on February 26th that the extra £250 million (€294m) allocated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport be divided between local councils and each will have a month to decide how to spend it to ensure superfast broadband is available to the majority of homes.

“Whilst this is excellent news and will almost certainly be a boost for rural access across the UK, forgetting about the final five percent of the population entirely is a mistake,” said Mike Locke, Managing Director of Satellite Internet. “To give some perspective, £250 million would cover a third of a million satellite installations, all equipment costs and a year’s service at 20Mbps which could solve the issue as quickly as the dishes could be installed.”

Satellite broadband can be deployed right now, cost effectively and providing consistent, reliable and fast download speeds, according to Satellite Internet.

Locke predicts that in the coming years, as the scale of the national broadband project comes to bear, satellite will be a key lifeline for those who are not lucky enough to live in the 95 percent of the country benefitting from the billion pounds worth of investment.